eHomemakers Information

eHomemakers is a Malaysian organization that encourages homemakers, especially the disadvantaged, to generate income through home-based activities. In 2003, PAN provided eHomemakers with an R&D grant to conduct research on what combination of ICTs would be best suited to the needs of homeworkers. It allowed eHomemakers to explore the possibility of helping women use ICTs and, in the process, strengthen their individual skills, explore the option of teleworking, improve their chances of operating home businesses, and become socially empowered. A year later, PAN supported eHomemakers in a larger research project to document the situation of homeworkers and contribute to policy development for this largely overlooked sector. The project includes a participatory study to identify issues surrounding home-based work. The information collected will contribute to a knowledge portfolio on homeworkers that will create opportunities for home-based communities to harness ICTs for their benefit. The study will be carried out in the urban areas of Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Interviewees will be drawn from among agencies promoting women's issues, family and community development, ICTs, entrepreneurship, and human resource development, as well as from among independent contractors and "homepreneurs. The research is intended to examine gender-specific issues faced by women homeworkers in deploying ICTs for work within the public sphere and in their homes. It will also identify ways in which women homeworkers can use ICTs to improve production capability and quality and reach and create new markets. A key objective will be to bring the research results to policymakers in the three countries. In the process of scaling up from the small R&D grant to the larger research project, a new and richer understanding of the ICTs and homemakers research problem has emerged. It became clear that this area of research deals with gender relations at different levels (intra-household, community, policy). Therefore, a fuller ...